InkWire, an Innovative New Data-as-a-Service Company, Looks to Joyent for Performance and Speed

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May 30, 2013 - by Hannah Simon

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InkWire has gone out of business. This post is retained for posterity.

The Internet is not static. The web changes over time, and from those changes comes valuable information that companies and individuals should be able to harness. Inkwire is a new Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) company that turns valuable but hard-to-organize and hard-to-track data about businesses – information you cannot “Google” – into a stream of actionable insights for professionals.

Their platform, still in private beta (which you can sign up for here), "watches" companies you care about and highlights key changes and trends in a visual, streaming, searchable format. The goal of Inkwire is to provide a living, breathing data timeline that tracks and structures data from job listings, Google Trends, Facebook likes, Twitter follows, and LinkedIn company data. Inkwire also lets you easily connect with people from those companies, without leaving the app.

VCs are using Inkwire to stack rank seed companies on these metrics to get an objective measurement of traction and to spot breakout companies. Company CEOs are using Inkwire to track competitors via job listings and social data. Sales teams use it to boost their close rates by building filters for specific job descriptions to pre-qualify accounts based on what companies are asking for in their hires. Inkwire makes it easy to map those company job listings back to relevant LinkedIn social connections.

The Inkwire team is adding new features almost weekly and additional data feeds and types of data are already in the works. Because Inkwire is truly a real-time application, with each user getting a completely different view, the company needs the app to respond very quickly on any device.

Inkwire had been using other cloud providers, but performance was a big pain point, according to Frederic Laruelle, CEO and founder of Inkwire. So, the team decided to switch cloud providers, and after a test run, the difference was clear.

“On Joyent, performance is noticeably better,” said Frederic. “Compared to other cloud providers, Joyent is between 1.5 to 2 times as fast. When you boot a brand new instance on Joyent, it takes literally less than five seconds for it to become available. Try that with any competitor and it’ll be more like a minute.”

The minute we signed up for Joyent’s free trial and tested their platform, we said, ‘Whoa, it’s so much faster!’ -Frederic Laruelle, CEO and founder of Inkwire

Frederic was also pleased with how fast the third-party applications ran on SmartOS. “We run Joyent with MongoDB and Node, and they’re exactly what we want,” he said. “We love Node because of its predictable, high-quality performance; our UI is Javascript intensive, with lots of dynamic content, and Node has been a perfect fit for us.”

Aside from increased performance and speed, Inkwire enjoys the human touch that Joyent provides its customers. “It’s a huge plus to be able to interact with my cloud provider face-to-face at times when we need customer service,” Frederic said. “We appreciate that Joyent puts a face on the platform; it creates a really positive experience for our team.”

When asked if he had any advice for someone looking for a new cloud provider, Frederic explained, “The fact is, you really need to try out and test new platforms for yourself. The minute we signed up for Joyent’s free trial and tested their platform, we said, ‘Whoa, it’s so much faster!’ We noticed the responsiveness of the system, and decided to test it some more. In many cases, what your company is doing might be unique, so you should definitely check to see if a cloud provider has a free trial.”

As this innovative new startup gears up for a public launch, we look forward to continued partnership with their talented team. In the meantime, you can sign up to be a beta user on Inkwire here. Additionally, we also hope that you take Frederic’s advice and sign up for a free trial of Joyent’s services today!